All England: India's campaign ends as Saina knocked out

March 12, 2011 16:56 IST

It was supposed to be her best chance of winning the coveted title but Saina Nehwal let it slip as she went down in straight games to unseeded Japanese Eriko Hirose in the quarter-finals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championship in Birmingham.

The fifth-seeded Saina, who was expected to win at the event given the absence of some top Chinese players, lost 21-11, 22-20 to her little-known Japanese rival on Friday.

The match was contested evenly to start with but Hirose, who was a semifinalist at the event once before as well, took control by breaking through the rallies that Saina generally wraps up in her favour.

Saina came back in the second game and it went neck and neck but the Indian ultimately fell short as Hirose held her nerves to clinch the issue.

With Saina's loss, India's campaign at the event ended as all her compatriots had already crashed out in previous rounds.

Meanwhile, Giant-killing Marc Zwiebler, enjoying the best week of his badminton career, booked a semi-final slot in the All England championships on Friday, beating Japan's Kazushi Yamada 21-18, 17-21, 21-15.

The German had claimed the scalp of world champion Chen Jin on Thursday and battled all the way against Yamada who had made his own piece of badminton history in the first round with a shock win over ex-Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat.

"It's amazing. I didn't expect to come so far in such a prestigious event," Zwiebler, world ranked 16, told reporters.

"I apologised to the makers yesterday for throwing my racket into the crowd after I won and now I'll have to do it again."

The German, who turns 27 on finals day on Sunday, added: "I came into this tournament with no expectations -- I hoped to perhaps reach the second round. I even had to cancel my flights for my holiday since I've got this far."